Mid-term Report on Michigan Football
2002 after 4 games-September 22, 2002
Offense-We are averaging 76 plays
per game and 386 yards in total offense. (B-)
Rushing Offense-We have averaged
176 yards per game with Perry leading the way with 102 yards per
game; Askew is averaging 28 yards per game. (C+)
Passing Offense-Navarre has a 53%
completion percentage with an average of 35 throws per game and
nearly 19 completions per game. He has thrown 3 interceptions
in 4 games with 7 TD passes (+4) and 214 average passing yards
per game. Braylon Edwards leads our receivers with almost 6 catches
and 94 yards per game; his average catch is over 17 yards and
he is averaging 1 TD catch per game. Askew is averaging 4 catches
per game for 31 yards per game. Our opponents have managed 6 sacks,
and I don't believe any of these sacks resulted in turnovers.
(B)
Blocking-Pass blocking has allowed
only 6 sacks, but run blocking has only averaged 176 yards per
game; this isn't up to Michigan standards. (C)
Coaching: Play Calling-The coaches
(Malone and Carr) have a poor 3rd down conversion ratio (40%);
this can be attributed to poor play calling and poor execution
of plays called. Overall, one glaring problem is that we have
only thrown once to Chris Perry for a 4 yard loss so we are not
involving our tailback in the passing game. We also haven't thrown
much to our tight end other than against Notre Dame. We don't
seem to challenge teams in the middle of the field; we emphasize
the sidelines, screens and corner (flag) routes. (C)
First Downs-We are averaging nearly
20 per game which shows we have the ability to move the ball against
good defenses. We are fairly balanced averaging 9 by rushing and
10 by passing per game with one by penalty. (B-)
3rd Down Conversions-We are 27 of
68 for 40% and 5 of 6 on 4th down. (C-)
Red Zone-We had 7 points in 4 opportunities
vs. Utah and 4 vs. Notre Dame for 20 points. I didn't keep track
in Washington or Western Michigan; however, we are weak in this
area. Anytime we are inside the 20, we should score and good teams
find a way to score touchdowns. (D+)
Points after Turnovers-We are really
poor here! I don't have statistical evidence, but we seem to be
the type of team that doesn't capitalize very well on opponent's
mistakes (D-)
Scoring Offense: We are averaging
24.8 points per game; our low was Utah with 10 and high was Washington
with 31. We are showing strong first and third quarter performances
offensively, but our opponents have dominated second and fourth
quarters. (B-)
Defense-We have held opponents to
15 first downs per game and 67 plays per game for 314 yards per
game. Our opponents have a 30% 3rd down conversion rate with 20
in 63 attempts, and 2 of 4 in 4th down. We have 38 tackles for
losses which is nearly 10 per game. (B-)
Rushing Defense-We are holding opponents
to 82 yards per game. This is a solid effort, but Notre Dame ran
on us all day, and this is why they won and are now in the Top
Ten. (A-)
Passing Defense-We give up 232 yards
per game. Opponents are averaging 20 completions per game and
a 58% completion rate in 34 attempts, but we are averaging 1.5
picks per game. We have 17 sacks so we average 4 per game, but
we don't seem to have as good of a pass rush as last year with
the same personnel. (B-)
Scoring Defense-We have held opponents
to 18 points per game with 7 being our low with Utah and Washington
being our high with 29. (B-)
Tackling-We are a poor tackling
team technique wise. Hobson is leading the defense with an average
of 8 per game. After that, June, Diggs and Jackson are next with
almost 5 per game. This shows weak inside linebacking. (C)
Special Teams-We have some areas
of strength, but glaring areas of weakness. (C+)
Punts-Finley is averaging nearly
44 yards per punt and we average 5.5 punts per game compared to
our opponents 7 per game. We have held opponents to an 8 yard
average on 9 punt returns with a 21 yard long return against Notre
Dame. Unfortunately, we are not pinning our opponents inside the
20 very often with 6 touchbacks in 22 punts compared to only 3
inside the 20. We have no punt blocks after tying our team record
last year. (B)
Punt Returns-We have 15 punt returns
for a 12 yard average. (B+)
Kickoffs-We have held our opponents
to a 19 yard average on 12 returns with Western Michigan having
the longest return of 30 yards. (B+)
Kickoff Returns-We have 9 returns
for a 24 yard average from LeSueur (8) and Perry (1). Many of
us would like to see Breaston or other threats here. (B-)
Field Goals/Extra-Points-We are
perfect on extra-points, 12 of 12; however, only 3 of 11 in field
goals. On the bright side, we have a game-winner vs. Washington.
Had we been in position, we would have had a similar opportunity
vs. Notre Dame. (D+)
Snaps-I'm no expert, but it doesn't
look like this has been a problem. (A-)
Holds-I don't know if Brabbs has
had good holds from Navarre of not, but he sure has shanked his
share of kicks.
Kicks-3 of 11=D- (Let's see what
Finley can do)
Penalties-We are averaging 6 penalties
per game for 45 yards; our low was Utah and our high was Notre
Dame. The late hit out of bounds by Drake vs. Notre Dame was inexcusable!
We also have 3 running into the punter penalties. Our opponents
have almost similar statistics with Western Michigan having the
most penalties against us. (C+)
Turnover Margin-We have 6 picks
to our opponents 3, but we are even in fumbles so we have a +3
margin in 4 games. We probably would have beat Notre Dame, and
been undefeated had we maintained a +2 in that game; as it ended,
both teams had 4 turnovers.
Time of Possession-This is about
even, but considering we were deficient against strong opponents
while good against weak opponents; this will be a challenge for
us.
Field Position-We had great field
position vs. Utah, but lousy field position vs. Notre Dame. Good
teams maintain game advantage by maintaining good field position.
(B-)
Individual Players/Positions:
Offense:
QB-Navarre (Brinton) B-
FB-Askew (Sanderson/Dudley) B+
TB-Perry (Underwood/Bracken) C+
WR-Edwards (Bellamy/Gonzalez/Avant) A-
FL-Butler (Bellamy/Bell) C+
TE-Joppru (Fisher/Mingery/Massaquoi/Dubuc) C+
RT-Pape (Solomon) B+
RG-Petruziello/Lentz B-
C-Pearson (Cristophel) C+
LG-Baas (Denay) C+
LT-Morgan/Stenavich C
Defense:
DE-(Rush)-Orr (Kashama/Woods) C-
DT-Heuer (Massey/Watson) B
DT-Lazarus (Bowman/Ofili) C+
DE-(Anchor)-Rumishek (Stevens) B-
ILB-(Mike)-Diggs/McLintock D
ILB-(Will)-Kaufman/Reid (Spytek) C-
OLB-(Sam)-Hobson (Casseus/Manning/Sarantos) A-
DB-Jackson (LeSueur) A-
DB-M.Curry/Combs (Williams) B
SS-J.Curry/Drake (Shaw) C+
FS-June (Shazor) C
PK-Brabbs/Neinberg D-
P-Finley B+
Snaps-Sgroi A-
Holds-Navarre B